


Sharper than a serpent's tooth

by Popchop



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, and I'm very happy with it, but has everything to do with a tabletop game, everything about this is one hundred percent self indulgent, ocs do not steal like i'm on da c 2009, this has nothing to do with canon whatsoever, will make no sense to anyone who's not me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-04-16
Packaged: 2019-04-23 16:39:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14336664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Popchop/pseuds/Popchop
Summary: Iren gets into some trouble on a space station. there are nightsisters involved, a daring rescue, and... all that jazz.





	Sharper than a serpent's tooth

The cantina aboard Babel 5 is always full - mostly long-haul pilots stocking up on company for the trip ahead, and they’re a parcel of species. Large windows look out onto the old planet that the station circles around. Supposedly it’s the origin of humanity, but then so are a thousand other planets across the galaxy. Really, it’s a nowhere planet, and Babel 5 is only important because of its position along the Perlemian Way.  
At the bar, there’s five different species and a hundred stories, but it’s the grey-skinned woman with the dark lines around her eyes and the blue-blond hair who really catches the eye. She’s dressed in scarlet and black, which is unauspicious on just about any planet you go to, and doubly so on anywhere where the sentients develop force-sensitivity. Through some quirk of the force, those are dark side colours across every species, like they’re warning colours. It’s the same as the way the force sensitive tend to come from liminal places - deserts, oceans, the bellies of ships: just a rule. The other patrons let her drink in piece, even the ones who spot a lightsaber at her hip. There’s not many of those around now that the Jedi have turned to pacifism, and this one looks particularly old and worn.  
That is, they let her nurse her drink in peace until another woman slips in beside her, signalling the bartender. “I’ll have what she’s drinking. And another for her” They’re alike - enough so that they could be sisters, and maybe they are, although the dark veins on the second woman’s face are thick and dark enough to be tattoos.  
The first woman groans. “Thanes. Did Mother send you?”  
“I just want to talk” the second woman says primly, taking the glass of Corellian rum and sliding a credchip across the bar. “And… see if you can’t be persuaded out of this madness. You always were my favourite aunt”  
“Only because you never saw me” Iren says gloomily. “How many of my Sisters are on the station?”  
“I can’t tell you that” Thanes says. “Five”  
“That’s… a lot” Iren takes the information in, nods thoughtfully. “I’m glad to see I rate”  
“Of course you do” Thanes says grimly. “You were the strongest and best of us”  
“Only because I left” Iren swirls her rum thoughtfully, then knocks back the rest of the first glass. “I saw the galaxy, my darling, and it’s beautiful and it’s cruel and it’s everything. I don’t think any of you could understand until you lived amongst other sentients, and seen how different they are, and how - how much kindness is in them. There’s so many of them out there who’d drop everything to help a stranger. Not a family member, not even someone of the same species, a complete stranger, even when it could cost them everything. The galaxy is a billion pinpricks of light and kindness on a dark backdrop”  
“How much have you had to drink?” Thanes says, wrinkling her nose.  
“Not that much. Enough” Iren says, “I’m glad they sent you” She knocks back the other glass and stands. “There’s a little time”  
“For what?”  
“For you to try to persuade me to come home, and for me to look at the stars” Iren walks rapidly away, in a manner that belies how much she’s had to drink. “Come along”  
They walk along the promenade, Iren’s hands in the pockets of her robes as she gazes out into that eternally starry night, watching the star ships go by. She nods casually to a passing Ithorian, and steps around a crocodile line of school children: it’s busy at this time of day, which might be part of the reason why she chose it.  
“I’m sorry” she says after a minute spent contemplating. “For not coming home sooner. I feel as though I could have stopped all of this. Taken you children away, maybe”  
“I don’t see what you have to apologise for” Thanes says. “...in that respect, anyway. There is the other matter”  
“Mm. Well” Iren pauses to place one hand on the cool window. “The saber is my birthright as eldest. I’m just claiming her a little early”  
“That’s a lot of rancor shit” Thanes says, and there’s a little heat in her voice now. “We welcomed you home after years, and you stole from us and ran”  
“I stopped you all making a terrible mistake” the older woman says mildly, one hand brushing across the lightsaber’s hilt as she smooths her scarlet cloak over it. “The age of heroes is over, my darling, and the age of our ancestors has gone with it. Trying to bring those days back is a mistake” There’s a little wobble to her voice, and it feels like this is a speech she’s prepared in advance - or at least had a lot of time to think about.  
“It’s not!” Thanes says, and grabs Iren’s hand. “Come home. For real this time. Everything can be forgiven if you just bring it back. Your family loves you”  
“And I love them” Iren squeezes her hand, then releases it. “But that’s not going to happen. I don’t think they filled you in on all the details, did they?”  
“What do you mean?” Thanes frowns, her hand hanging in midair for a second before she remembers that it’s there.  
“You want to bring back a long dead Sith” Iren says grimly, looking away and out at the stars. “You need a body to put them in. A nice, living, force-sensitive body, and the more powerful the better. Where do you think that was going to come from?”  
“That’s… that’s not true” Thanes says, although her expression is something wild for a moment. “I don’t believe you”  
“My sisters were very much going to put me on that altar” Iren’s voice has a little wobble in it, like she’s having some difficulty holding herself together. There’s a depth of betrayal to being sold out by your own kin that’s hard to match, even if it’s straight out of the Nightsister playbook. “And if they can’t have me, who’ll they choose next? You? One of your baby sisters? Or will it be one of our men? The ones we’re supposed to protect and cherish? I love my sisters, but none of them are committed enough to annihilate themselves in that way. It’s just - it’s better if I take this course of action away from them entirely”  
“Auntie -”  
“I’m going to make the same offer to you. In reverse. Come with me” Iren can’t bring herself to turn around. Instead, she’s watching a light shuttle come in. “There’s a whole galaxy out there just waiting for us - I’ll take you to see… everything. There are cities the size of a planet, and trees so tall that the creatures who live at the top never see the ground, and gardens made of floating rock, and oh - oh a thousand different things. We could see them - together?”  
“If what you say is true,” Thanes says, very cautiously, as if she’s considering it, “Then maybe it’s in my best interest to make sure you walk out of this alive”  
“That’s… good?” Iren sounds a little bit uncertain. “I mean, that sounds positive”  
“So… please, don’t move”  
Iren stiffens as she feels the tip of the hold-out blaster pressed against her back. It’s a tiny thing - palm-sized, probably, and capable of maybe one or two shots before the battery pack dies, but she’s almost certainly acutely aware that it would only take one shot to do an awful lot of damage to her.  
“I see” she says, and she sounds sad and tired. “Well, it was worth a try”  
“If you make a fuss or draw attention to us,” Thanes says unsteadily, “It’ll only get other people hurt. I know you care about that”  
Two more of the grey-skinned women seem to materialise out of the crowd, and Iren nods familiarly. “Irzani. Sunjann. I can’t say it’s a delight”  
“Our ship is ready to depart” The woman Iren named Sunjann says to Thanes, absolutely ignoring Iren’s input. Sunjann is taller and broader-shouldered then her sisters, and is dressed probably more sensibly then the rest of them put together - a leather smuggler’s vest and good solid trousers with sturdy boots. “Does she have the saber?”  
“Under her cloak” Thanes says, indicating with her free hand, and Sunjann reaches in and frees it in one smooth motion, holding the battered old weapon in the palm of her hand. That lightsaber is ancient, and it looks it. It’s been patched enough - and badly enough - that it’s hard to say if it’s really the same thing that was built by a Jedi thousands of years ago, and it probably doesn’t function in quite the same way.  
“That’s mine” Iren says wearily. “By birthright. I’m the eldest”  
“You left” Irzani says briskly. “And gave up all inheritance rights. Jedi are supposed to cut family ties, aren’t they?” Irzani is shorter then Iren, and has leaned into the fashion that occasionally sweeps through the force witches for black leather and baring as much skin as is possible. Iren takes some solace in the fact that she must be freezing.  
“Still not a Jedi!” Iren snaps, and there’s a brief flicker of angry green around her fingers. “I worked for them, I took no vows”  
“Whatever” Irzani says, and glances at Thanes. “Move”  
Iren walks as she’s directed, along the promenade. The other women - her sisters - don’t seem to be in the mood for talking, but she launches into a speech anyway, her voice pitched low. “You’re making a mistake, you know. Have any of you seen how this sort of thing tends to turn out for us? This is a classic Nightsister decision, and it’s exactly why we’ve nearly been wiped off of the face of Dathomir - three? three. Three times. In the very best case scenario, where everything goes according to your plans, you end up ruled by a Sith who’s not interested in our well-being but only in what we can do for them” She takes a breath, “That’s the very best case, and that’s still one where you end up releasing an old evil back into the galaxy that took some serious stopping up to begin with. I’ve put a lot of hard work into shutting this sort of thing down, and I really can’t say I’m in favour of your decision -”  
“Iren, shut up” Sunjann hisses. She’s slipped the lightsaber into a pocket, Iren is pretty sure - and she’s very invested in knowing where the saber is. “The sooner we get you onto the ship, the better”  
“I’m sure that’ll be better for you” Iren says with a roll of her eyes. “But really, I think you should fill Thanes in on your plan to murder me and use my body to house an ancient evil. Don’t you think she should have some input into that decision as a full adult member of the clan?”  
The crowd they’re moving through as they come towards the docks is growing thicker, and they’re moving against it - some large passenger liner must have just undocked.  
“Not everyone has to know every part of the plan” Sunjann says, her face a mask.  
“Wait, so that was true?” Thanes says, sounding some combination of fascinated and horrified. “Sunjann, is that… what we’re doing?”  
“We’re doing what’s necessary for our future” Sunjann says sharply, then grunts as a twi’lek woman bumps into her. “Hey - mind yourself!” she snarls, half turning, the woman raising both hands in apology.  
“Don’t start a fight. You always do this” Irzani hisses at her, grabbing her arm and tugging her away.  
“I do not” Sunjann snaps back, pulling her arm away huffily. The group lapses into a sort of sullen silence as they come into the station’s hangar bay. Iren is prodded towards an old Amarills-class light freighter, where - she can tell from the way the force bends around them, like the parting of water around a rock in the stream - her other sisters are waiting. There are a number of other ships in the cavernous hangar, including the big passenger liner and a large quantity of smaller shuttles and freighters. One of the smaller shuttles looks as though it’s about to take off, and Iren tracks it with her eyes for a moment before focusing back on the light freighter.  
“You know what,” she says thoughtfully. “This has been fun, but I really should be going now” With that, she stamps hard on Thanes’ foot and at the same time drives an elbow into her stomach. Before her other sisters can react, and while Thanes is still crumpling, she makes a dash for the small shuttle, which is just beginning an ascent. Its door is still open, and as Iren makes a jump (a jump that’s higher and faster than anyone has a right to make) a green-skinned figure leans out and pulls her in. Before the sisters can react, the ship accelerates rapidly out of the hangar. Its lightspeed co-ordinates must have been preprogrammed, because it jumps away a moment later and is gone.  
“...at least we still have the saber?” Irzani ventures after a moment. Sunjann pats her pockets, then swears.  
“The twi’lek. The kriffing twi’lek”  
“It’s okay” Irzani says, although from her tone it doesn’t sound like it. “We’ll catch up to her. There is nowhere in this galaxy she can hide from us”


End file.
